By Jennifer P. Rendon
Not on his watch.
Brigadier General Leo Francisco, Western Visayas police director, said he will not allow incompetent officers to sit as chiefs of police.
“Bakit, okay ba sa inyo na ang namumuno ay hindi alam ang public safety and peace and order na ‘yun ang aming trabaho?” he said.
Francisco was referring to the case of the 11 commissioned officers of the Antique Police Provincial Office (AnPPO) who were instantly relieved from their post for various reasons.
“Imagine a chief of police na hindi alam ang program sa peace and order and public safety, which is the main function of the police. Paano kami makakapag-utos kung hindi namin alam ang aming iniuutos?” he said.
Of the 11 policemen who were relieved, eight are chiefs of police while three are AnPPO headquarters staff members.
Reports said Francisco flared up after some chiefs of police were unaware of the peace and order indicators and public safety indicators.
Peace and Order Indicator (POI) classification includes crimes that reflect a true crime picture and the peace and order situation of a community. This comprises the total Index and Non-Index Crimes.
On the other hand, public safety indicator (PSI) is the classification of crimes that include culpable felonies and quasi-offenses that reflect the public safety situation of a community like traffic incidents.
The 11 police officers were relieved on Sept 10, 2022, and were told to report the following day to Camp Delgado.
They will undergo a two-week training to be supervised by the Regional Learning and Doctrine Development Division under Colonel Lea Rose Peña.
Peña said the lectures started on Sept 13.
Francisco and members of the regional staff will be conducting their lectures.
After the 7-day retraining, Peña said they will be deployed to the Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO) for the field training exercises.
Francisco said there’s no guarantee that they could reclaim their post after the training.
“It will depend if they will learn. They will take an exam and those who can pass will be returned to their previous post,” he said.
The other “misdemeanors” that led to their relief included failure to stop the Peryahan Games (or Peryahan ng Bayan) operations, non-observance of Tamang Bihis, and blunder to follow instructions.
Colonel Alexander Mariano, Antique police chief, said the officers were immediately reassigned to the Regional Personnel Holding and Accounting Unit (RPHAU) based in Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) headquarters at Camp Delgado, Iloilo City.
Of the 11 officers, Mariano said only the chief of San Jose town police was deemed relieved due to the existence of Peryahan.
As to the other officers, “‘yung iba kasi hindi maka-follow ng simple instructions like template in reporting,” he said.
There were officers who reportedly got Francisco’s ire because of their appearance or the manner they wore their uniforms.
